This invention relates to the field of knit fabrics. More particularly it relates to the field of elastic warp knit fabrics and the method of making the same.
In the past a variety of elastic fabrics have been produced for use in the construction of foundation garments, swimwear and the like. These fabrics, for obvious reasons, must possess certain properties such as good bi-directional stretch, as well as vigorous recovery referred to as "power".
Widthwise stretch, is of particular importance since it permits the finished garment to stretch with the movement of the wearer and thereby prevents the garment from riding up, sliding or binding. Furthermore the need for a fabric having balanced stretch also arises in the construction of brassiers and other garments which require heat moldability since a balanced stretch fabric expands uniformly and therefore does not distort in the molding process.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,960,855 discloses an elastic fabric known in the textile trade as "power net". This fabric has substantially more stretch in the warp direction than in the width direction, due to the warp wise configuration of the elastic inlay threads.
Other fabrics, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,064,885; 2,996,906 and 3,390,549 have obtained a balanced, bi-directional stretch by knitting the elastic threads with the inelastic threads. These fabrics, however, possess a number of substantial disadvantages in that they have a relatively high elastic yarn content. Also, in order to produce a fabric of normal weight using this technique it is necessary to use a fine denier elastic yarn, these yarns are quite costly thereby resulting in a fabric which is relatively expensive. Moreover, these fabrics have a tendency to curl, which makes the cutting and sewing of them difficult.
Another technique used for producing fabrics having balanced bi-directional stretch involves the laying in of elastic yarns in both the warp and weft direction. This technique may be accomplished, as would be understood by one skilled in the art, by the use of weft insertion equipment, wherein a continuous weft yarn is inserted across the fabric width. Although the presence of elastic threads in the warp and weft directions, impart to these fabrics balanced bi-directional stretch, the resulting fabric has a high percentage of elastic yarn and is quite difficult to knit, thereby substantially increasing the cost of the fabric.
Unlike the prior art fabrics discussed above, the fabric of the present invention is capable of balanced bi-directional stretch while consuming a minimum of elastic yarn without the need for expensive weft insertion equipment.